An Observational Study of Romans: Chapter 1, Verse 3

1. "concerning His Son..." This should be, for any Christian, an amazing and profound verse! God has a Son! And what's more, this Son is eternally the Son. One way one could argue the deity and eternality of the Son is to ask "Was the Father always the Father?" If the answer be yes, then one would be forced to ask "How? How can God eternally be Father without eternally having a Son?" This same Son of God is the topic and the subject of this gospel, which God had promised beforehand. The questions following this should be something along the lines of "What has this Son to do with this gospel, that it should be about Him?" and "Who is this Son, and what is He like?" In other writings, we find that Jesus Christ, this person to whom Paul is a bond-servant, is that same Son of God, eternal, uncreated, Almighty, begotten and not made.

2. "who was born...according to the flesh" It is of extremely great significance to point out that Jesus in the flesh was born here on earth, and not His eternal deity or Sonship. This is of huge importance, because so many in church history have blasphemed the nature of Christ by saying that He was created or born in His divinity, which is absolutely mistaken. His humanity was here on earth, was born to a woman. His divinity always was. How this meshing of two natures came to be is a mystery that may never be figured out, but that does not make it untrue.

3. "born of a descendant of David..." This is, once again, of great theological importance. Why is it so important that Jesus be born to a descendent of David? Why did Jesus have to come from the line of David? There are several good reasons, but it is mainly prudent to look at the more predominant two.

• Jesus was pictured in prophecy over and over as a King. In Revelation He is the King of Kings. In Isaiah He is the Prince of Peace, as well as having the government rest on His shoulders. To be a king, He would have to come from the line of kings, namely, David's line. This would establish His legal right to rule.
  
• Secondly, Jesus' belonging to the line of David puts Him in the line of the Davidic promises. Some of these promises and prophecies are:
• Isaiah 9:6
• Isaiah 11:1-5
• Isaiah 11:10
• Isaiah 16:5
• Jeremiah 23:5-6

All in all, this verse is talking about the gospel being about the Son of God, who was born to the Davidic line according to the flesh.